Ar'Kendrithyst

Erick woke up late, covered in sweat. The sun had risen and brought light to the world from the eastern sky, on the other side of the house. Erick’s room was still dark, but it was certainly past morning. Ophiel faintly whined in flutes, as Erick threw off his covers, revealing that all of him and his bed was soaked through. His shirt clung to him; a thin white fabric that made him look like the fifth place runner up at a wet t-shirt contest. He sat up, and everything swam left and right, but he didn’t fall back down. He clutched the edge of his bed, remaining upright, still seated. He flashed a [Cleanse Aura] through the room. After the thick air passed, his shirt was still soaked, but it was just water, now.

‘Jane?’

Jane sent back, ‘You okay?’

‘Woozy.’

The air blipped dark blue. Jane stepped into the room, frowning slightly. “Good morning.”

She touched him with a deep blue glowing hand. The air seemed to clear, his eyes focused again, as the world calmed, stabilizing under his feet. Ophiel rubbed against his side. Erick pet him, a little, then blinked out sleep, and breathed in the morning.

“Thank you.” Erick said, “That’s a lot better.”

She frowned. “Healed sense organs take a while to rejoin the rest of the body, but one night should have been more than enough.”

Erick joked, “I’m slow to integrate.”

Jane smiled. She said, “We got a message from Messalina. Two of them, actually.”

Erick listened.

“The first letter was full of warnings regarding the Headmaster. Poi read it, but… It could be propaganda. So I did not. You can make that choice for yourself.” Jane said, “Poi said it was all rather standard warnings for dealing with known dragons, as well as a few specific dangers regarding the Headmaster himself. The second letter was thanks for killing the Toxic Hydra, and an apology for dosing you with the Dream Worm, as well as a claim that the worm would have vanished on its own if you would have played along.” Jane frowned. “But that’s me being generous with her words. I read the second letter. I don’t like this woman.”

Erick decided, saying, “I don’t want contact with her, so I’m not reading them. This was enough. Thank you, Jane.”

“More than past time for you to get up, though. It’s time to rain on the farms.”

A twinge of panic passed through Erick. He summoned another Ophiel and instantly sent him out to the farms. Jane was right; people were standing around in the fields. Erick began flowing mana through Ophiel, into silver clouds. He set Ophiel into the center of the Harvest Temple, as the platinum rains began to fall.

Erick came back to himself, saying, “You could have woken me.”

Jane smiled as she held out her hand. “I was just about to. You’re only a few minutes late.”

Erick took her hand, and she pulled him to his feet. He said, “Valok was probably pissed.”

“Yeah. Well.” Jane held Erick upright, saying, “He can be pissed, Dad.”

Erick tested his sense of balance, moving his head back and forth. No wooziness. Not right now, anyway. He asked, “Anyone show up to figure out what happened? Merit, maybe?”

“Merit and Felair came over this morning. They left hours ago.” Jane added, “No answers. Merit was pissed.”

Erick nodded, and he felt stable. He let go of Jane’s hand, and said, “I’d like to do some brainstorming with some magic and some defenses. You and Kiri free for a bit?”

“Yes.” Jane added, “We can find Kiri.”

- - - -

Erick stood in front of a blank blackboard. Kiri stood in front of her own blackboard, while Jane leaned against the wall, near her own similar setup. [Distortion Ward]s covered the windows. Poi stood in attendance, but less for mental cover and more because he had heard what Erick wanted to discuss, and he wanted to be a part of it. He also stood beside his own chalkboard, but he refused to pick up the chalk. Teressa and Rats were woken up, at Poi’s insistence; those two sat sleepily in their own corners. They did not care to really participate.

But Ophiel was all happy to be surrounded by all these people. He sat on a perch next to Erick’s blackboard, humming in violins, eyes open all across his body.

“Thank you all for participating in this.” Erick said, “This is just the brainstorming session, anyway.”

Kiri smiled as she spoke, “This is all highly unorthodox and I love it.” She added, “I must repeat, for the sake of thoroughness, that I have the recipes for some really good spells.”

“I know, Kiri.” Erick said, “And I’ll probably go that route, anyway. But before we get to the proper schooling, I want to see if there is a way to do this stuff without all the ‘proper’ recipes. I would also just like to know about some of the larger spells, and how to defend myself in this world.” Erick looked to Poi, adding, “Which is why I didn’t want to involve Merit or any of the others in this discussion. At least not yet.”

“Of course!” Kiri bubbled. “Don’t want to taint your thinking with overly orthodox measures. I can appreciate that.”

Poi watched, waiting.

Erick began, “Let’s start with the big one.” He started writing on his blackboard, as he said, “[Teleport Lock]. In my mind, it’s [Teleport], [Dispel], and Aurify. But there are problems with this. According to my own maths, this would require so, so much mana, every second. This is likely not what Shades do.”

Jane added, “It would also cover a thousand kilometers in every direction if this is what they did.”

Kiri’s face dropped to concern.

Erick nodded, saying, “Maybe they drop the cost by considerably dropping the range. Not sure how to do that, though.” He wrote on the board ‘less range for cheaper costs’, and said, “But it’s an obvious avenue to success. If it works.”

Kiri shook her head, saying, “This does not work. You can’t really… decrease the cost of something.”

Erick said, “My [Crystalline Air] would disagree.”

Kiri added, “And that right there is crazy, you know?” She shrugged, saying, “Maybe that is exactly how a Lock works, but I doubt it. Someone would have gotten it by now if this was all it took. [Teleport], [Dispel], and Aurify together, make tier 2, meaning you can try again every single day.”

Erick nodded. “This is true. But do you know of any spells that are like [Crystalline Air]? With the costs reduced by having a smaller area?”

Kiri said, “Anything with [Find Target], of course. Scanning magic in general is cheaper with smaller areas. Though none that I know of are adjustable in the completed spell like your [Crystalline Air].”

“Are there cheaper forms of [Teleport] than [Teleport]?” Jane asked. “Perhaps this lock is just an application of [Shadowalk]? But what is [Teleport], exactly?”

Erick channeled mana through [Teleport] producing a white double glow from his hands. He moved his hand through the air, and the double glow split, leaving one behind and the other in his hand. He said, “I have no idea how to describe this.”

Jane said, “It’s not dimensional magic. That’s blocked. Is it speed magic?”

“Is there speed magic?” Erick asked.

Kiri frowned, saying, “It’s not speed magic. All of that old magic has been lost to time.”

“No [Haste] or [Slow], Dad.”

Erick said, “I don’t even know what those are.”

Jane sighed, saying, “I know you don’t.”

Teressa joined the conversation with, “No speed magic. No slow magic either.” She turned to Rats and Poi, asking, “Right?”

Rats yawned, saying, “Right.”

Kiri said, “We’re getting off topic, anyway.”

“Well. No.” Erick asked, “What is [Teleport], anyway?”

Kiri said, “Spatial magic. You put yourself into a different, known, part of the manasphere.” She explained, “Historically, the spell used to be vastly more complicated. The Old Wizards had to have perfect control, or they’d end up inside rocks or splatted against a wall. When the Script codified all magic, it streamlined the spell and removed much of the danger; if your [Teleport] isn’t perfect, it still works well enough.”

“Regarding a Block:” Kiri continued, “[Teleport] doesn’t work inside a [Teleport] blocked location, until you throw enough [Teleport]s around to break the block.” She said, “A Block, constructed of [Teleport] and [Dispel] runes, and charged with rad dust, is valued based on the amount of mana it takes to break it. For every 250 mana of rad dust spent to charge a blocked space, a properly made [Teleport] blocked room will block 1 [Teleport]. Like most things, this is just a deterrent from most attackers.” She clarified, “A space usually has a dozen Blocking runes, each holding at least 500 mana. When the block activates, it pulls 250 mana evenly from the network.”

Jane asked, “So does it… Block the [Teleport]? I mean. The [Teleport] goes off, but then it fails to work?”

“Yes,” Kiri said.

Poi said, “Yes.” He added, "A [Teleport] with an end of the spell in a blocked area will result in a smattering of light, and no movement."

Kiri said, “This is yet another difference from a Shades’ Lock, versus a Block. In the Lock, you lose access to the spell. You can’t even spend mana on it. But in a Block, you can; it just fails to work.”

Jane said, “On my first day in the Army I entered the edge of Fallopolis’ Lock and was able to [Teleport]. But I ended up to the side instead of going forward. Though once I was inside the city, and actually inside the Lock, I couldn’t even spend mana on the spell.”

Kiri nodded. “Yup.”

Erick held out his hand to Ophiel, as he strummed mana through [Teleport], creating a double of his white glow, saying, “Ophiel? Can you copy this sound?”

Ophiel stared at the white glow, and began to hum a sound. It was a pure sound, and Erick finally understood what he was hearing. Travel and exploration. The journey and the destination.

Erick said, “I’m thinking a Lock is just destructive interference, somehow.” He wrote down ‘destructive interference’ on the blackboard, then patted Ophiel, saying, “That’s enough. Thank you.”

Ophiel hummed the [Teleport] sound, but at a much lower intensity.

Jane asked, “But how?”

Kiri, wide eyed, asked, “What is ‘Destructive Interference’?”

Poi said, “Undoubtedly a very large topic that does not need to be discussed right now.”

“Fine,” Kiri said.

Erick said, “Quite right. This is further than we’ve gotten with a Lock, anyway. What comes next is testing.” He said, “Next topic. How to defend against parasites.”

“Deal with them as they happen,” Rats said, yawning. “Hard to be preventive with those.”

“Rats is right.” Poi said, “Mostly, we try to fix the damage before it gets too catastrophic.”

“There’s a [Bug Ward].” Jane asked, “But no [Parasite Ward]?”

“None.” Rats said, “The problem is that parasites make themselves a part of your natural biome and then they wreak havoc. You can’t clear them out without hurting yourself in the process; they become part of your Health Status.”

Jane asked, “How about some way to make your biome hostile to parasites?”

“It already is,” Rats said. He amended, “Well. It isn’t. Actually. It is in the beginning, but then it’s not.”

Erick saw something in that statement. He asked, “How are these parasites made?”

Rats said, “They create them out of lumps of flesh and corruption spells.” He yawned. “It’s more complicated. But that’s the gist of it.”

“Corruption spell? Elaborate, if you can?” Erick asked, writing in another section of his chalkboard ‘parasites and corruption’.

Rats said, “[Blind]. [Deaf]. [Dumb]. [Weak]. They’re all Health abilities. Like [Strike]. Range of touch.” He yawned. “Dunno how you actually make the parasites themselves, but it involves a lump of human flesh and then imbuing that lump with one of those spells, and then that flesh somehow comes to life, and then you put that parasite in a human. You use dragonkin flesh to infect a dragonkin. Orcol for orcol. Etcetera. Very disgusting. Very disgusting.”

Erick touched the left side of his face, and tried not to think about some person’s flesh crawling around inside his ear. He shivered.

Poi added, “Accomplished parasiteers can also put mind magic into the parasites.”

Erick declared, “Table that, for now! No more parasites!”

Jane chuckled.

Erick asked, “Is there a way to solve this shadowspider prowling, thing?”

Poi smiled, saying, “Yes.”

Erick felt a rush of small joy, saying, “Oh thank gods. How?”

Rats frowned. “Ugh. Really?”

Kiri winced. “I can’t sleep anyway. Might as well make it all the way terrible.”

“This means I can’t do a lot of stuff, too, Dad,” Jane said.

Erick looked around the room at all the unhappy faces. “What is this reaction!” Erick said, “Just tell me.”

Poi answered, “[Lightshape] and [Ward]. Banish all shadows in an area.”

Everyone except Erick and Poi groaned.

Erick said, “I can see how that would be hard to live in.”

Kiri said, “No shadows anywhere. Including under your covers. Behind your eyelids. Anywhere. The base version of the spell is [Banish Shadows], and it’s one of the few magics that is already combined well.”

Erick went ahead and spent 3 points, for all the other shaping spells.

Lightshape 1, 1 minute per level, medium range, 10 MP

Slowly move minor amounts of light around you for 1 minute per level of Lightshape.

Exp: 0/100

Fireshape 1, 1 minute per level, medium range, 10 MP

Slowly move minor amounts of fire around you for 1 minute per level of Fireshape.

Exp: 0/100

Shadowshape 1, 1 minute per level, medium range, 10 MP

Slowly move minor amounts of shadow around you for 1 minute per level of Shadowshape.

Exp: 0/100

He said, “I needed the other shaping spells, anyway. I’ll look into [Banish Shadows] later.”

Kiri offered, “You could also work on your mana sense? You likely already have a high affinity for this skill, but I do not, so I cannot help you with this. A high mana sense would allow you to see the world sort of how Jane sees it, as a spider.” She looked to Jane, adding, “If I’m correctly understanding what you said you could see?”

“You are—” Jane paused. Her face flushed red. She said, “If I had transformed… If I had been a spider at any point in time during that entire Feeding Frenzy, I probably would have seen those hunters.”

Erick instantly said, “It’s okay, Jane.”

“It’s not okay, Dad.” Jane said, “It’s… It’s not okay.”

Kiri did not look to Jane, but she went quiet.

Erick frowned, as he wrote ‘Mana Sense’ on the board. Ramizi had told him about Mana Sense before, but he had just not pursued that option. Now, he would.

Poi spoke up with, “There’s also…” He hesitated. Then he said, “There’s also a mind sense you could work on. Increasing your mental capacities should increase your ability to resist things like a Dream Worm, or other mind control in the future. A good enough mind sense and you could have seen those guys, too.” Poi admitted, “I should have seen those hunters, as well, but I was too focused on the wyrms. I apologize, sir.”

Erick just smiled small, and said, “Don’t worry about it, Poi. It’s okay.”

Jane shared a silent look with Poi, as Erick wrote ‘Mind Sense’ on the board, and then a large question mark.

Jane asked, “[Telepathy] transformed into some sort of detecting spell, and Aurify, for a [Mind Sense]?”

Poi said, “It’s not a spell you can buy or achieve. This is also a topic for another time. I merely brought up the possibility.”

“Okay.” Erick said, “Let’s talk about that [Ward] wyrm, then. I felt useless. It was sheer dumb luck that lightning struck that monster at all.”

“I could teach you about more fire magic.” Kiri said, “[Death Spiral Fire] really is a ‘one spell, one kill’ kind of magic, and now that you have [Fireshape], you likely have all of the necessary pieces. It would have worked through all of those [Ward]s, though the [Cold Ward]s would have smothered some of the spell as long as the monster was inside one.”

Erick wrote on the board, ‘[Death Spiral Fire]’ and ‘Fire Magic’.

He turned to the group, and asked, “Here’s another topic: What am I actually expected to defend against? What necessary spells and such do you think I need for the good of Spur?”

Poi instantly said, “The murder of monsters such as the Toxic Hydra. The deployment of [Stillness], in the event of a sonic attack, such as [Pulse Wave], which is the most common form of attack and taunt from the Shades. The defense of yourself, firstly, and Spur, secondly. Everything else beyond this is welcome, but not expected. Though with as much as you are doing for the farms, if you fail to keep up this responsibility you have assumed you would likely be punished by thousands of people, and not just Silverite.”

Erick laughed. He could already imagine Valok punching him if he ever stopped raining.

Rats said, “You’re already doing a great job, sir.”

Jane smiled, softly, as Kiri and Poi looked on, at Erick.

“I need better goals than this.” Erick said, “I’ve already been told in very explicit terms that there will be no more overt plotting to kill Shades, even if a Kill and Exterminate Quest is involved.”

Erick was still totally plotting to Kill All Shades, though. It would just take a while.

Kiri gave him a sideways glance, then said, “Well...”

“Learn [Comet Swarm], Dad.”

Rats laughed. “Yes! [Comet Swarm]. What is it? A lot of [Stoneshape] and [Force Crash]. Or maybe [Force Bomb]?”

Teressa chuckled, a sleepy sound, saying, “No no. Just need to learn [Reflection], and pump it up high enough to reflect every enemy spell.”

Poi said, “Do you want the most chaotic battlefield ever? Because this is how you make everything into a crater.”

“A spell to nullify all enemy magic!” Rats offered.

Erick laughed. “I already did that. It got taken away.”

“Oh right.” Rats smiled. “I knew that, already.”

Kiri blanched. “Fuck! You did?”

Erick said, “Super long range, too. [Zone of Peace]. It’s Koyabez’s spell, now.”

“We need to get ourselves a priest of Koyabez, then,” Rats said.

Erick acted all affronted. “Am I not good enough for you?”

Rats smirked, saying, “Not if you can’t nullify every hostile magic ever. What kinda bargain bin archmage shit is this?”

Erick laughed. Jane smiled, while Teressa and Poi grinned, and the color returned to Kiri’s face.

Erick said, “New goal, then. This [Prismatic Ward]. I’m going to get that— What does it do, anyway?”

Kiri practically bubbled, saying, “Not just an empty shell of a [Solid Ward], but an absolutely solid area of [Solid Ward]. No movement for anyone who is not approved. Six times defense for every single point of mana you spend. You have to dispel it six times for it to go away.” She added, reverent, “And holy shit, if you can get that Variable cost for Variable area, too? Unprecedented defense.”

Erick’s eyes went wide. “That’s amazing.”

Jane said, “That’s some good shit.”

“Oh my, yes.” Kiri said, “There are so many top tier spells that… that you might be able to make, sir. A [Gate] network. A [Prismatic Ward]. [Death Spiral Fire]. You don’t really need to make [Iceberg], because you already have [Call Lightning] and enough Ophiel to drop a tsunami onto a city and then ice it over with [Wintry Sea], but— There’s just something interesting about flash-freezing that much space without the wind up.” She added, “[Grand Telekinesis]. It’s some form of [Telekinesis] along with every shaping spell, I think. I could be wrong about that, but that’s the theory on how a Shade’s [Grand Telekinesis] works.”

Erick wrote Kiri’s spells onto the chalkboard, glad again for his decision to go for all the shaping spells.

Poi said, “There are some very good high tier spells that don’t require combining to get. But they do require an extra twenty points to buy up to them.”

Kiri frowned, saying, “Like what!”

“Like [City Shape].” Poi said, “Create a city out of a prepared area, rerouting water from the Underworld and changing the surface to support what buildings would come next. It’s what made Spur, so long ago.”

Kiri frowned, then said, “That barely qualifies as a good use of magic, and only because it can reroute the Underworld, though any good Stone Mage can do the same.” She added, "It would just take a while."

Poi continued, “[Cleanse The Land]. It’s just [Cleanse] on a massive scale, but a hundred kilometers is still a hundred kilometers, and without this spell, the Wasteland Kingdoms would fall to Toxic monsters over the course of a month. [Scan] is great, despite its detractors. You can search for a lot, but not everything. And don’t forget [Weaken Monsters]. Every monster in a hundred kilometers suffers from reduced levels.”

Erick almost asked after that last one, but—

“That last one is poison.” Kiri said, “Surely you can’t actually recommend these spells?”

Poi countered, “They are options. [Weaken Monsters] is actually a good way to become recognized as an archmage—”

“A shitty pretend archmage that does more harm than good!” Kiri looked to Erick. “Every spell he just mentioned costs at least a dozen points, at least. You also have to buy every single previous spell for the higher one to appear, and that leaves you with practically nothing left.” She looked to Poi. “[Weaken Monsters] is especially heinous. It makes people think that monsters are easy to kill, and when the spell ends, the monsters go berserk!”

Poi said, “That’s why they don’t ever let it lapse in the Greensoil Republic.”

Kiri gritted her teeth, saying, “Now, that, is untrue.”

“What?” Erick asked.

Kiri clarified, “[Weaken Monsters] lasts a month. But monsters roam. So the edges of the Greensoil Republic are always under attack by berserk monsters with almost double their usual level.”

Poi frowned. He added, “High tier damaging spells are useless. But the high tier utility spells do have their uses. Some of them, anyway.”

Rats added, “Casting [Weaken Monsters] in the Crystal Forest is a crime.”

Poi relented. “It’s also a crime in the Wasteland Kingdoms. But the point still stands.”

While Kiri glared at Poi, Erick wrote the spells on the board behind him. [City Shape] got a star by it; Erick was interested in that one. When he was through scratching chalk on the blackboard, he turned back to the group. A tension still held in the air. Everyone but Teressa looked affected; her eyes were half lidded. A bit of drool hung at the corners of her mouth. She must have dozed off in the last few seconds.

Kiri tried to vanish the tension, by saying, “There’s also whatever spell Tenebrae used to float that mountain. That’d be a good one to have.”

Poi’s frown vanished.

Jane asked, “You want to make a floating castle? We could hunt down a cloud giant’s cloud castle. They’re invisible, but they’re up there, out there in the Crystal Forest.”

Erick turned to Jane. “Tenebrae didn’t make that stone fortress himself?”

Kiri said, “Now hold on. He might have.” Kiri’s eyes sparkled. “We could research floating castles.”

Rats said, “It was just a matter of time.” He added, “I knew you would get a floating castle! I knew it. I want a room with a good view, please.”

Erick laughed.

Kiri ignored Rats, saying, “[Force Platform] as a base spell, for sure.”

“Oh right. Where was that second letter from the Headmaster?” Erick asked, “The one with the list of required spells for enrollment?”

Teressa stood up, yawning, saying, “I’ll go get it.”

Erick looked to the tall orcol, smiling, saying, “Thank you.”

Teressa walked out of the room.

“As another topic:” Erick said, “I want something that will renew my spells, so that I don’t have to re-cast them all the time. Does such a thing exist?”

Kiri practically squeaked with anticipation, as she asked, “You want to make an artifact?”

Jane countered, “There has to be some word misuse or mistranslation here. Artifact? Doesn’t that mean some special item that won’t decay, like normal magical items decay? I thought those didn’t exist.” She said, "That's not what he is talking about."

"No no." Erick said, "Go ahead, Kiri."

“Uh." Kiri said, "Technically, artifacts don’t exist. But they do. It’s like you told me that one time. Purple exists, but it also doesn’t.” Kiri paused. She said, “When it comes down to it: The thing that makes an artifact an artifact is that it requires zero upkeep. You start off with a large enough grand rad in the center of the item, and it continually casts whatever magic you want it to cast, using the array you’ve set up, without eating away at the grand-rad in the center faster than the grand-rad can renew itself from the manasphere.” She elaborated, “Like… the easiest ‘artifacts’ to make —and probably not what you’re going for— are Grand [Prestidigitation] stoves. Go to any noble’s house in the Greensoil Republic, and you’ll find kitchens with specialized grand-rad stoves that never need to be refilled with 10 mana rads, like the ones you have downstairs in this house.”

“Ah.” Jane said, “They’re artifacts, but like… Not really. They decay constantly. But they’re also constantly renewing.”

“People still call them artifacts, though,” Kiri said.

Erick said, “That’s not exactly… I want something that will renew the spells I have active without needing me to constantly recast them.” Erick clarified, “Preferably a spell itself, so that I only need to cast it once and everything else renews.” He added, “I guess I could try to make it myself. I’d call it [Renew].”

“Doesn’t exist,” Rats said.

Poi agreed, “Doesn’t exist, as far as I know.”

Kiri said, “Maybe… some other application of grand-rads could do this? I’m not sure.”

Erick turned around and put it on the board: ‘Learn how to make artifacts work for active spells’ and ‘[Renew]’

Erick said, “You use rads to make magical items. I bet someone else has already figured out how to make this process work for active spells.”

Kiri said, “Maybe.” She added, “But, I believe, the process of anointing runes to create or deny spell effects in an area is the solution to this problem you are trying to solve.”

Erick hummed and shook his head. “No?”

Rats said, “Invent this [Renew] spell.”

Teressa walked back into the room carrying the Headmaster’s second letter packet, saying, “I caught about half of that.” She handed the packet to Erick, asking, “Why do you want this spell anyway?”

Erick took the pages, saying, “So I can cast one spell and renew everything around me. Durations, damage absorptions, all that stuff. Or. Rather. Cast one aura, and gradually renew all the ongoing magic around me. And not just me.” He looked around the room. “A [Renew] spell would allow Spur to get some archmage defenses, and then have normal people [Renew] them as needed. No need for the vulnerable archmage to stick around. This would also lead to a lot fewer points of weakness in a potential defense.”

Poi stood straighter, uttering, “Oh.”

Kiri said, “Ambitious.”

Teressa said, “I like it.”

Rats nodded.

Jane said, “Maybe… find out how grand-rads renew items, and see about duplicating that process with your own spell?”

Kiri said, “There’s an idea, but I highly doubt that would work.”

“It’s an avenue of research, though,” Erick concluded, as he wrote Jane’s suggestion on the board.

No one else spoke; they were all deep in thought, looking over Erick’s blackboard. So, Erick read from the packet, and immediately felt that same rush of inadequacy from last night, when he first read the first parts of this very same packet. He needed a lot more spells in order to begin to be a proper mage, to protect this place he called home and himself, and to break into the higher tiers of normal magic.

As Erick read the list a few times, he realized, that he loved this. Making magic. Protecting people. Guarding himself from the threats of the world, as well as guarding others. Poi’s instant description of Erick’s duties and responsibilities was spot on. These spells, and a trip to Oceanside, would help Erick to remain faithful in the duties he had chosen to accept as part of the Social Contract of living on Veird.

Erick took his chalk and began writing down every Script spell the packet recommended, that he did not already have:

[Force Crash], [Force Wave], [Force Wall], [Force Bomb], [Force Platform], [Prestidigitation], [Adjust Scent], [Husbandry], [Detect Magic], [Identify], [Alter Size], [Alter Friction], [Fabricate], [Envelop Item], [Control Item], [Find Target], [Rebound], [Interception], and [Polymorph].

Jane asked him, at the end, “That’s a lot of spells.”

“Yup.” Erick said, “I don’t have enough points.”

Kiri looked at the list, saying, “You really don’t have any of those?” She instantly added, “You lied to me about that tracking decay force beam, when we were first sparring!”

Erick snickered. “Yup.”

Jane smiled wide, as she said, “[Polymorph] doesn’t require points.”

“It’s the only one!” Erick said, as he looked over the list. “Oh, hey. I’ve been meaning to ask. How do those little truthstones work?”

Poi read the blackboard, as he said, “[Truthsense]. It’s mind magic; it’s not in the normal Script. Most mind magic isn’t.”

“Ah. Not gonna get that one, then.” Erick nodded, then turned and added more words to the list.

‘One of the [Body] spells. [Air Body]?’

‘Savral’s [Interception Bolts].’

‘More particle magic. A [Solid Ward] of particle magic? A particle magic [Renew]?’

Erick asked, “Anyone else have any goals they’d like to accomplish while we’re at Oceanside?”

Poi smiled, while Teressa yawned happily and Rats just grinned.

Kiri said, “I would like to accompany you throughout your whole Oceanside trip, sir.”

“You don’t have to follow me around.” Erick said, “I’m sure they’ll let you go to whatever classes you want.”

“I would prefer to be by your side.”

“… Pick out some classes, then, and I’ll go to them, too.”

Kiri smiled softly, saying, “Very well.”

Jane said, “I’m going back to the Firemaw Mountain. But I’ll message you whenever.”

Erick said, “I expect you to get Polymage soon, Jane.”

“Just gotta kill some monsters, first!” Jane flashed her teeth, adding, “And then eat them.”

Erick exaggerated a shiver. Jane smiled.

Poi said, “I’ll be accompanying you wherever you go, too, of course.”

Erick nodded. “Thank you, Poi.”

Rats said, “I’ll find something to do when I’m not watching you. They have to have a hospital there, so I might look into that. Make some progress on my [Greater Treat Wounds] quest.”

“Sounds good,” Erick said, then, “Teressa?”

Teressa said, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll find something. That island is supposed to be really peaceful, but I doubt it.”

“Okay then.” Erick asked, “Ah. That reminds me. How are everyone’s rings holding up?” A flash of tiny panic came and went. “I haven’t made the rest of the rings for Liquid.”

Teressa smiled, saying, “My rings are still at 25 each. More than good enough.”

Rats said, “Mine too. They’re fine.”

Poi said, “Killzone is thrilled with the rings. Liquid is actually slightly scared, according to the captain.”

Everyone in the room turned toward Poi.

Poi continued, “Your rings should have failed by now. They’ve been worked hard. But they’re not failing. The vast majority of them have stabilized around plus 20 of a Stat.” He smirked. “You're speaking of learning how to create artifacts and this [Renew] spell, while you’ve already made something worthy of being called an artifact.” He stressed, “A real artifact, too. Not a kitchen stove artifact.”

Jane laughed, while Kiri paled again.

Erick simply said, “Huh.” He looked at his own All Stat rings. They hadn’t changed, either. He dropped his hands to his side, ignoring the world-altering repercussions on his fingers, and said, “So. Anyone want new rings? Kiri? Do you have any, yet?”

Kiri looked to the rings on Erick’s fingers, and then on Poi’s and Teressa’s. She said, “Willpower and Focus would be great.” She tentatively added, “If they don’t break, might as well go big with the good Stats?”

Erick said, “I’ll get them to you by tonight. I’ll also finish Liquid’s final order of 50 in a few days.” He thought for a second. He added, “And I’ll send 50 to Cyril and Yetta, too. See if that will get them to talk to me about that rain they asked for.”

Poi nodded. “Very good, sir.”

And with that, the meeting wound down. Teressa and Rats scampered off back to their own beds, while Jane went to buy and gather supplies for her trips, and Kiri went off to gather resources for her stay at Oceanside. Poi and Erick were soon alone in the classroom.

Erick’s blackboard was full of writing, while all the others stood completely empty.

Erick wasn’t quite sure where he was going with this meeting, when he started, but looking over his board and reading what he had written down… The brainstorming helped him, at least. There was still something else that needed to be done, though. Now that Erick was alone with Poi, this was as good a time as any.

Erick looked to Poi, and said, “So! If Silverite hasn’t filled you in already: Here’s a possible problem you might have with me and what I want to do with my life here in Spur.”

Poi stood a bit straighter, his eyes darting to meet Erick’s, but quickly moving back to stare at the blackboard.

Erick casually said, “I want to kill all the Shades. It’s going to happen. They’re going to die. Not sure how. Not sure when. But I’ll figure it out, and then I’ll do it. When I decide to kill them all, they won’t be able to do a damn thing to stop it, either. So don’t worry about me going off half-cocked.”

He added, “And then I’ll kill every wyrm, or stop them from spawning. I’ll murder the Cinnabar Hand, too, and any organization like them. Melemizargo is an unsolvable problem, but I’m not really looking to solve that one. These are my long term greater goals. They won’t happen until I’m absolutely sure I can pull them off, without a retaliation.”

He continued, just as matter-of-fact as he had started, “Whatever horrors there are in your world, that need to die, they will die. These are just the ones I know about, right now. These are the ones I am preparing for.” Looking at Poi, Erick asked, “I also hope to live a nice, quiet life here in Spur, probably working on the farm and killing whatever threats Mog deems necessary. How do you feel about this?”

Poi stared at the blackboard, his eyes unmoving, his breath steady. His face was unreadable, but his eyes glistened in the distorted light from the windows. And then he smiled; tiny, almost not there at all. He said, “Every day, I feel even more assured that I made the correct choice to volunteer to be your bodyguard.”

This moment was, perhaps, the only time Erick had ever seen the man without tendrils of thought radiating from his bluescaled head.

Poi almost said something, but he stopped himself. A moment passed.

Poi said, “This is what I want, too. Thank you for sharing this with me. This means… This means a lot.”

Erick looked at the man, and said, “Whenever you feel comfortable enough to tell me who your enemies are, we can see about bringing them to justice, too.”

Poi glanced from the blackboard to Erick. After a short moment of looking at each other, Poi gave a tiny, silent nod.

Erick left it at that.